Studio042 donates Montclair Robotics Team 555 flag.

Photo courtesy of Studio042.

The Montclair High School Robotics Team is open to any interested student at Montclair High School. It currently has around 25 students in it, freshman to seniors, and around one third are girls. The students have a lot of fun while they work together to build a competition-worthy robot, which they enter in each season’s competition challenge.

The Montclair High School Robotics Team competed in two seasons this school year. FTC Robotics runs Sept. to Dec. and the current FRC Robotics season runs from Jan. to April. Both Montclair FTC and FRC teams compete within the competition framework run by FIRST Robotics. FIRST is an international organization that runs robotics competitions for students in the United States and other countries.

Montclair’s FTC Team 147 had a great season this past fall! Their winning alliance lead in three of their four competitions. They took second place in their fourth competition. Montclair FTC Team 147 won five judges’ awards, including one for “Outstanding Autonomous Mode.” Team 147 advanced to and competed in the New Jersey state finals, the “Garden State Rumble.”

Montclair Robotics FRC Team 555 is doing very well in the current FRC season. The team recently competed at the Mt. Olive, New Jersey District Event, where they ranked fourth out of 37 local high school teams. Team 555’s next competition is the Montgomery District Event at the Montgomery Township High School in Skillman, New Jersey on April first and second. The team is making plans to attend either the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship at Lehigh University in P.A., or the FRC Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, M.O. Both events occur in April.

Students on the Montclair Robotics team get the chance to learn many skills. Team members can learn computer programming, mechanical design and fabrication, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), electronics and 3-D printing. Students also participate in community outreach, middle-school robotics mentoring, public relations and fundraising.

Montclair Robotics has three Mentors/Coaches who help guide the team to reach their highest potential.Mr. Barouch, a teacher at Montclair High School teaches Robotics classes, Auto Shop classes, Principles of Engineering and Welding classes.Ms. Yanette, also a teacher, instructs Fine Arts and Technology, Ceramics, Sculpture, Digital Imaging & Design and Web Design.Mr. Kopelow, a local software developer, has been mentoring various robotics teams for the past nine years. Kopelow also volunteers his time with Montclair Robotics team.

“We also have great sponsors who support us in many different ways,” said Angela Yanette, MHS/SVPA/Robotics Teacher at Montclair High School.

Studio042 has been no stranger to donating, especially to benefit the great town of Montclair. To support the Montclair Robotics team, they donated the team flag, seen in the photograph within this article.

“John and Judy Weston, Picatinny Arsenal, Montclair Society of Engineers, The Friends of MHS Robotics, DCH BMW of Bloomfield, Thomson Reuters, Schweers Technologies and the Montclair Board of Education. We couldn’t have done any of this without them, including Studio 042 who printed our team flag that we carry during competition. It’s the same flag you see in this photo,” said Yanette.